Self Sacrifice
by Beta117
Summary: “The Chosen King. He has been tortured by destiny all his life. I understand his wish to live but he is the one who can bring the light back. He will have to die but he does not know what sacrifice trully is. Your world will change that.“ “If he decides to stay, there would be nothing we can do about it.” “Let him Experience Spiras’s resolve. He will come back on his own.”
1. chapter 1

" ** _To cast out the usurper and usher in new dawn's light will cost the life of the Chosen... Many sacrificed all for the king, so must the king sacrifice himself for all. Now enter into reflection, that the light of providence shine within._** "

The ring glows as I am floating thinking to myself. "Sacrifice myself... after everything that has happened to me... I know it's selfish, but I'm not ready to die. I wanted to have a kid or two, grow old, truly get to see all the world has to offer. Is that so selfish to ask?" I ask no one, yet I knew bahamut was listening.

"How could anyone throw their life away like that? Willingly or otherwise." I ask sarcastically.

I sit floating for what feels like days, I have no way to tell time. I don't think I can ever accept the mission I have been given, regardless my promise to Luna.

The ring glows brighter than ever before dying out, I stare at it on my finger for what feels like hours.

" _Are you sure?_ " I hear a young boy say. I look up and see a child wearing a blue robe with a hood. " _If he decides to stay, there would be nothing we could do about it._ " He says.

"What?" I ask. I realize he is not talking to me but to someone else. He pauses as if listening.

" _Alright then._ " He says he floats towards me. " _You will have your wish._ "

"What?!?" I ask him confused.

" _I said you will have your wish. Just remember that this won't be your story, you are simply there, to pass the torch. For you belong to eos. That's where your kingdom is. Where you will die, and where your body will one day turn to dust._ " He says. His body begins to become transparent as what look like small suns with rainbow trails begin to come out of his body.

I then noticed that soul crystals were forming around me I looked at the ring and noticed my hand and body was breaking apart into crystals. I begin to panic, as I try to hold my body together. " _You WILL come back here one day._ " He said

I begin to lose consciousness, as I hear him say one last thing. " _But you may take your time doing so._ "

Ffx/Ffxv

I felt Consciousness but I didn't feel like I was actually waking up. I heard voices softly talking nearby.

"You really should go check on them." "Can't it's forbidden, besides, I was told by the summoner to wait for this one to wake up." "But it's been days now." I hear the voices get quieter no longer about to pick out what they are saying.

I try opening my eyes and I realized I must have been asleep for a while because my eyes were quiet sensitive to the light.

I sat up and looked around when I became coherent. I was in some kind of tent with a carpet on the ground. I look at myself and noticed that whoever helped me healed my wounds, except unlike when you use a potion however, it left scars. Not that it really mattered. I looked at the trails of scars on my right hand all trailing from the Ring on my finger. The cracks reached all the way up to my neck before finally stopping.

'Not my world? ...they didn't.' I think to myself. I look over to the tent flaps and see the sunlight peeking through. 'There hasn't been sunlight in days on eos. So I guess that's part of the mystery solved.'

'But... This isn't my story? What's that supposed to mean?' I get up before walking out the tent. 'I'll just have to find out.' The light hits me and I squinted in the brightness. I looked around and it honestly wasn't much to see, it looked a lot like one of the refugee camps that the Lucians used, tents everywhere, except there was some kind of temple as well.

I could feel humidity and smell slat on the air. There was sand under my boots so I guessed I had to be near the ocean.

I walked up to a man standing in front of the temple. He noticed me and a sincere smile shows up on his face. "Ah. The Black Mage the summoner and guardians found. It's good to see you up and about finally." He said to me.

Several questions came to my mind. I started in the order they came. "Black Mage?" He looks me up and down before answering.

"Of course. No one else would ever wear so much black clothing. You stick out like a sore thumb. Of course it's always good to have a magic user around to fend off the fiends." He says. Not wanting to be too suspicious, I go along with what he says.

"Right. I do know a few spells." I wasn't lying, I had about 7 flasks full of different spells on me. 'Although I have no idea what a fiend is, outright asking might not be the best course of action.' I think to myself. "Are fiends a serious problem around here?" I ask the man.

He replied with a bit of enthusiasm in his voice as he answered. "No actually. We have the crusaders to thank for keeping the monsters at bay."

'The monsters here are called fiends, that what I figured.' I think to myself. "Um, your mentioned someone found me?"

"Ah yes, a summoner apprentice and their guardians found you injured in the forest and brought you here... how did you get so hurt anyway?" He asked curiously. "Not to mention that strange injury going up your right arm."

I became conscious of the ring on my finger. "I ah, was out fighting d- fiends all night and I must have collapsed." I stumbled a little on my words.

He looked at me in surprise. "Thank be to yevon that they found you then." He said before doing some weird thing with his hands and bowing to me.

"Ah. Yeah. But I was actually hoping to thank the people that helped me." I ask awkwardly. 'Is this a religious world?'

He looks at me strangely. He answers "Of course, they have gone into the temple to pray to the faith."

'So these people are religious. Great.' I think to myself. "Thanks. I'll be on my way now." I walk past him and head into the temple but I can tell he is he watching me.

When I walk into the temple, the first thing I noticed was the singing. It was quite beautiful but I couldn't find the source.

As I looked around, I realized I forgot to ask where I was but I'm sure I could find a map somewhere. There were several statues of people I didn't recognize but I'm sure that to this region they held some great significance.

I go up to the nearest monk, "Do you know where I can find the summoner that helped me?" He looks me up and down before giving me a smile as genuine as the last monk did. 'These people are really friendly.' I think to myself.

"Ah. It's good to see you on your feet you've been out for almost a full three days. But I'm afraid your out of luck, the summoner has gone into the cloister of trials soon after healing you and hasn't come out since."

That surprised me. "Wait. I was out for three days?" He nods his head. "Wow. I must have been in worse shape than I thought. I really owe them." I say my gratitude evident in my voice.

Another thought occurred. "Wait, that means they have been in there for three days as well?" I ask

He looks towards the door. "Yes I'm quite worried. It doesn't usually take this long." He said somberly.

I look to the door curiously. "Are they in danger in there?" I ask.

"There's no telling." He says. "Most of the trials of the temples are actually quite simple but they all have a powerful effect on those with weak wills that leaves you going in circles." He finishes.

I stare at the door for several more seconds before narrowing my eyes and walking towards it. "I'm going in to get them." I declare.

His face changes to one of shock as I walk up the steps. "You- you can't! Only summoners and their guardians are aloud in there!" He yells to me.

I look back to him. "I own these people my life and they could be in danger in their and you expect me to just do nothing?"

"Going in there is forbidden by yevon! You could do more harm than good by getting them excommunicated!" He yells in desperation. I stop with my hand on the door at that.

'That name again. Yevon. That must be the name of the god here.' I turn my head back and see everyone staring at me in shock. 'These people really are religious to these.'

I slowly take my hand off the door before stepping back from the door. 'Best not to anger the locals.' I turn around and begin walking down the stairs. "Right... I'm just still out of it I guess. I... I'm just concerned. I owe them my life and they could be in trouble." I explain.

Everyone seems to calm down and goes back to their previous tasks. He looks at me with soft eyes. "I understand your frustration young man. That's very honorable of you but there is nothing we can do but wait." He says calmly.

He stares at me for several seconds. "... Why don't you see if the crusaders need any help to pass the time." He offers. "They are located in the biggest tent. Next to them is our local shop if you need anything."

"Thank you." I tell him. He does the same gesture and bow that the monk outside did but this time I got a better look at it. I made sure to repeat the gesture to him although mine seems a little awkward. Nevertheless he gives me another soft smile before walking away.

I walk out of the temple, and begin walking towards the largest tent when a thought cross my mind. 'I'm probably going to be doing fighting but I'm not sure I want to show my magic.'

I go behind a tent where no one can see me before summoning my ultima blade and disconnecting it from my magic as to not accidentally put it away.

I go into the shop. "Do you have a weapon sheath that would fit this?" The man takes a single glance at my sword before his face angers.

"You use a machina weapon? That is against the teachings of yevon!" He says.

'Machina? Machine? Aww what?!? This religion hates machines too?' I think To myself. "Um no. I found it the other day. I don't know what I was thinking." I say as I walk back out the tent and behind it. I put it back away in my magic before looking through my other weapons. I quickly realized that I had no proper swords. 'Although... I do have nyx's... but I can't just use them constantly.'

I summon his daggers before disconnecting them from my magic. 'I'm not to good with daggers so this isn't going to work for difficult fights.'

'Well only one solution. This is going to suck for quite a while.' I summon my father's sword in my hands. I'm actually not sure how to disconnect it from my magic but after several minutes of toying with it, it glows a bright blue for several seconds before dying down. The blade suddenly felt cold to me. Unfamiliar even. Yet I can still feel the familiar strain on me just by holding it.

I walk back into the store with the daggers and the sword in my hands. "How about these." I ask.

He looks at me strangely. "Did you just happen to find those as well?" He asks sarcastically.

I narrow my eyes at him a little. "Actually no. This was my fathers blade before he fell in battle and these belonged to a friend who fell in the same battle." I answer a little more than annoyed.

He looks at me in surprise. "I'm terribly sorry. Please let me show you what I have." He says.

I walk out of the store with my father's sword strapped to my back and the daggers in holsters on my sides.

I walk into the crusaders tent and a few eyes fall on me but quickly go back to whatever it is that they were doing.

"Do you need something boy?" I hear from next to me. I look over and see a old man i a crusader uniform but his was different than the rest. I mad the quick assumption he must be in charge.

"Ah... I was... um..." I stumbled with my word not really know what to say.

"Spit it out boy, I'm not getting any younger." He says.

I stop and collect myself. "Do you guys have any need for a extra sword for the time being?" I ask.

He looks me up and down before looking me in the eyes. "...You've got the air of someone of high rank, yet you don't act like it. You've got the stance and body of a Warrior, yet barely any scars to go along with it. But your eyes... I can see you've lost a lot."

I felt quite annoyed at being scrutinized this way. And I was about to retort before he answered My question.

"Sure boy. You'll and me will do some hunting today. Got a few pesky fiends that have been causing the others trouble." He answered. The whole tent became silent. I looked and saw everyone was frozen and staring at him.

Someone, a woman finally speaks up. "Um, Colonel? Are you sure? There's no need to bother yourself with this. The Lieutenant and a few of us could handle it."

Without turning around he answers the girl. "Technically I'm on vacation here. I'm going to do whatever I want. And this old man feels like doing some stretching." He says as he walks over to a locker and pulls out a sliver spear.

I look at the man in surprise. "Colonel?" He walks out the door and I follow.

"That's right boy. I earned that rank. So don't you forget it." Now let's do some hunting.

We being walking out of the village as he continues to talk. "Now what we are looking for is a dual horn. They aren't on besaid often so this one has been causing a bit of a ruckus. You ever face one before?" He asks.

The familiar image of a rhino with two horns comes to mind. "Yeah, plenty of times."


	2. Chapter 2

———— Self Sacrifice. ————

"That's not a duel horn!" I yell at the man as I jump out of the way. It's horns pierce the ground where I was standing.

"Sure looks like one to me." The man says as he stabs his spear into its leg. The duel horn turn to him before it it swiped at him with one of its paws. He quickly pulls the spear out of its leg before rolling back out of the way.

I quickly throw one of my knives at it but realized my mistake when I couldn't warp to it. 'That's right I disconnected them.' The knife plants itself in his right underbelly. It quickly turns to me.

"What you go and do that for? You done lost a knife." He says

"I'm on top of it! Can you Lock it down?" I ask.

"I'll think of something." He says before he ran at the beast and slammed his elbow into its side.

'Man, I thought cor was old to be doing things like that.' I think to myself.

The beast stumbled a bit and that was all he needed. He took his spear and slid it over the right horn and pierced it all the way through its neck and down into its right arm and then down into the ground locking in place. The beast tried to bite him but he jumped back before kicking it in the face for good measure.

I ran up to the beast and slid under it while grabbing the lodged blade and slicing open it's underbelly.

The beast gave out a cry that almost sounded... humanistic. Before exploding into those mini suns. I was caught off guard and it showed.

"What? You never see pyerflys before?" He asks.

I look to him, my face showing my suprise. I quickly tried to hide it but I know he saw. "No, I've seen them before." I said thinking back to when I was in the crystal.

"Oh I have no doubt about that." He says. "But anyone who knew what they were wouldn't look at them with such wonder." He says.

I look at him wide eyed knowing I'm just about caught. "Oh, um."

"What are pyerflys?" He asks me.

It seems the jig is up. "... I don't know."

He chuckles a little. "What's a faith?"

Again I tell him, "I don't know."

"What's sin?" He asks.

"I don't know." I answer truthfully.

He stops asking questions and just stares at me before chuckling to himself some more.

"Oh good now there's two of yah." He says. That caught me off guard. "And I suppose your from zanarkand as well?" He asks while laughing.

He continued, "The other one said something about being the star of the zanarkand Abe's. What about you? Going to tell me your the son of Yu Yevon himself? Cause honestly that's the only story that will top everything I've heard." He said now no longer laughing.

"Ah, no. Actually I've never even heard of zanarkand either." I tell him. At least he can probably help me if he actually believes the other guy too.

He looks at me stumped. "... well, to be honest your story is probably boring anyway."

[later]

"And yevon is the 'god' of this religion that everyone prays to. If you don't follow the religion then you are considered a heretic by the masses." He tells me as we walk along the shore line.

He had told me a majority of the important things as we walked, like how to pray what the religion the major things not to do.

"What about you?" I ask him. "You don't seem to believe in the religion. Why is that."

He stops walking for a second but continues just as I was about to stop.

His tone turned serious. "I used to believe in it. Every word a mister would say I drank it all up. But one day sin came back."

That caused me to be confused. "Sin. You mentioned that earlier."

He glances in my direction. "Ah, right I didn't mention that. Kind of a big thing to gloss over. Sin is the monster that plagues our world. He's the reason for the strength of the religion and the reason I stopped believing."

"What is it?" I ask.

"I told you already. A monster. He's the size of... Well let's just say he is really really big. But he has destroyed entire city's and when left unchecked kills everything in his path for no reason." He says. "We've killed it before several times but it always comes back, faster than the time before."

'Well I was just about to suggest that.' I think to myself.

"I was 30 ish when it came back, it made its debut at the town I was living in with my wife and kids. And it took them from me... a lot of good all that praying did me." He said somberly.

I stare at him as we continue to walk, he is much quieter now. After a few minutes my Curiosity finally breaks through. "You said Yevon is the God that everyone prays to." I say to him. He looks up to me waiting for my point. "But then who is Yu Yevon?"

This time he completely stops walking and so do I as he looks me in the eye. "You mentioned him earlier." I explain.

"You best forget that name. It doesn't mean anything to most people, but to those that recognize it... it's in your best interest you don't ever say that name." He says before continuing to walk.

I watch him continue walking. "...Right." I say before catching back up to him.

We fight several beasts on the way, I saw that some beasts are familiar like the flan and the killer bee but others I have never seen before but one thing remained the same. They all became pyerflys when they died.

'If I was using my engine blade I could at least get some elemental energy out of this.' I think to myself.

"Why are you using your daggers and not that sword on your back? The last dingo wouldn't have nicked you if you had more reach." He askes me with a slightly annoyed tone. I look at my arm that the potion was quickly healing but the blood on my arm remained.

'What's the simplest way to explain that.' I think to myself. A quick solution comes to mind. "It has a curse on it that makes it powerful but also hurts anyone that wealds it." I tell him.

He looks at me strangely. "Sounds like a draw back that just isn't worth it to me." He answered honestly.

"Yes that may be true but the sword was my father's." I tell him. What I don't tell him is all the powers it has in a Lucian Royal's hands.

"Ahh." He says. I can tell he understands what I mean by 'was'.

Both him and I stop when we hear a screech that sounds like nails on a chalkboard coming from in the distance.

"What was that?" I ask curiously.

"That... sounded like a Garuda. I was informed they were native to this island but they are quite rare." He answered with a tinge of concern on his voice.

"A Garuda?" I ask hoping for an explanation. After all, I've never heard of one before.

He glances over to me. "Oh. It's like a big featherless bird with razor sharp teeth instead of a beak." He looks back to the direction the screech came from. "Honestly we should probably stay away from it without additional support or even a summ-." He was cut off by the sound of a man screaming.

"So... we going to wait for additional support?" I ask sarcastically as we begin a hurried jog towards the scream.

"Your joking, but I'm going to be sore for months after this. I may still got plenty of kick but I don't bounce back like I used to." He says.

We pass several fleeing men all wearing some kind of sports uniform. One of them stops us. "Hurry! A guardian is fighting a Garuda all alone so that we may escape." He tells us before continuing to run.

When we arrive I immediately noticed the giant "bird" as he reluctantly described it. And in front of it was a was the supposed guardian. His sword in its mouth holding it back.

I run up and past him slicing at the beasts belly with both daggers in a speedy fashion. It only slightly flinches before flapping its wings heavily once vending both me and the guardian back next to the Crusader. "Thanks for the useless assist kid. Why don't you try to be productive next time." The guardian said sarcastically.

I now took the time to look at him. The first thing I noticed was the giant letter J tattooed onto his chest. His left arm had a gauntlet on it, and his sword was red with a hook coming back halfway down the sword.

"Hey wait! Your that kid we found!" He said suprised. "Didn't know you were awake."

"My name is Noctis." I tell him.

"Jecht." He says.

The major walks to my other side. "I suggest you pay attention to the enemy. This will not be simple." He said.

Me and jecht stand up. The 3 of us now in a spread out line in front of the creature. I put the daggers away and reach up for my father's sword. It glows slightly but I force it not to connect to my magic.

The major looks was watching with mild interest the second he noticed me reaching up for it. I hear him hum before looking back. I pull it out of its sheath and bring it up to me before pointing it at the creature. I can feel my hand starting to tingle already.

"Let's do this." I say before moving towards it.

"Wait." The major says. I stop. "Let it make the first move. We have no way to attack from a distance as it can fly." He explains.

'Sounds like something Ignis would say.' I think to myself. I nod my head before stepping back to my space between jecht and the major.

Jecht looks down at the ground and chuckled. I follow his gaze and see a blue ball at his feet. "And what if we did?" He says before sabing his sword into the ground.

The major follows our gazes. "That's right you mentioned you play. Well if you hit it a few times and get its attention, when it goes to attack when will be prepared for to counter strike." The major says.

He steps back and kicks the ball, sending it smashing into the beasts head. The beast is slightly stunned by the hit. The ball comes back and jecht punchs it right back at the thing. But the creature moves its head. "Damit. It messed up my Jecht shot!" The creature turns to him and screams.

"But looks like you got its attention." I said. The creature flys towards him and jecht simply jumps out of the way it's tallons. I run behind the beast slicing into it back several times with my sword somthing. It screamed in agany that pierced my ears painfully.

"Noctis aim for its wings! If it can't fly, it will be easy pickings." I hear the major say as he sliced at one himself and rolled out of the way of its teeth.

I feel my hand being to burn and the tingle has now spread up to my elbow. I go for a few more swings but the thing takes flight once more.

I jump back into formation between the major and jecht. It flies directly at me and goes to bite me. I jumped and landed on its lowered head it lifts it head up and throws me in the air. I spin in the air while pulling on some of the fire element stored in me. I thrust my hand towards it and it exploded in a spectacular fashion.

The beast fell to the ground but quickly got back up, Looking only slightly ragged. "Woah!!!" I hear jecht yell in suprise.

I notice the burn Has spread to my elbow now. But I suddenly felt something on the air. Something... peaceful and powerful at the same time.

"Be preared. It's about to strike again." The major said. It brought back its wings to do that attack again. But we all paused when we heard a screech. And it didn't come from the creature before us.

I turned around and in the air I saw another bird creature but this one didn't not look nearly as threatening as the other. "Go Valefor! Help them out." I hear a voice yell. The bird slammed into the creature and it gave a harsh cry of pain.

"You sure took your time Braska." Jecht said to two men that walked towards us. One held a sword over his should and wore a black vest. The other was dressed... quite ridiculously and held a weird staff in his hand.

"Had we known you would get in such trouble, we would've never left you on your own." The one carrying the sword said.

"This isn't trouble, I was just entertaining myself Aaron." Jecht said with a smug face. He turned to the two battling beasts. "Sooo. That's an Aeon? Huh? Pretty coool. Guess that makes you a full fledged summoner now Braska." Jecht said.

"Indeed." The one named Braska said. It seemed that he wasn't really paying attention, his focus seemed much more on the Aeon and birds fight.

The bird bit the aeon and I noticed Braska face twitch. 'He controls it through some kind of link?' I ask myself.

The bird refuses to let go as it's teeth continue to rip into the Aeon. Braskas face contorts, and the Aeon opens its mouth. A bright light appears in its mout and it tilts its head towards the bird before a beam shoots out and straight through the beast.

It cry's out before falling to the ground and disappearing into pyerflys. The Aeon gave a screech before flying up and disappearing into the sky.

Braska turned to me. "I see that you have recovered well. Although I didn't expect to find you fighting so soon." He admitted.

I let out a nervous chuckle. "Well I wanted to stretch some. I felt quite stiff after being asleep for so long. Figured I might as well try and get paid while I do so." I explain. The true reason probably isn't important.

A small smile appears on his face. "You are for higher then?"


End file.
